Actor Juhi Chawla and her businessman husband Jai Mehta's home in Porbandar can be described as 'frozen in time' due to the preservation of belongings and interiors from the 1920s. It is a stunning blend of art deco and traditional architecture and has been beautifully restored. An Architectural Digest India article published on May 27 gave a glimpse inside Jay's ancestral home in Porbandar, Gujarat. Also read | Step inside Audrey Hepburn's Swiss villa that looks plucked out of a fairytale
A beautiful symphony of history and culture
The portal shared inside pictures of the mesmerising home, which still included items like antique furniture and personal effects from the past. It won't be wrong to say that this extravagant Indian home embraces timelessness, stillness, story, and Indian craft.
Built in the 1920s by Jay Mehta's grandfather, the late Nanji Kalidas Mehta, the double-storey home is made of limestone and boasts Italian marble floors, Japanese tiles, frosted art deco glass chandeliers from Europe and furniture from Africa. The home is wrapped around a roughly triangular courtyard.
A dazzling display of antiques
Customised art deco furniture is found in nearly all rooms – from a book case with numbered books from Nanji Kalidas Mehta’s study on the ground floor to a beautiful carved bed imported from East Africa featuring a ceiling-suspended wooden frame, used for mosquito nets at bedtime.
{{/usCountry}}Customised art deco furniture is found in nearly all rooms – from a book case with numbered books from Nanji Kalidas Mehta’s study on the ground floor to a beautiful carved bed imported from East Africa featuring a ceiling-suspended wooden frame, used for mosquito nets at bedtime.
{{/usCountry}}There are six large bedroom suites in the home — each suite consisting of reception chambers, sleeping rooms, worship spaces along with spacious storage rooms. Almost a century later, some of the rooms are still kept as functional guest rooms for when family members visit. There is also an octagonal lobby that served as the waiting room for the people who would come to meet Nanji Kalidas Mehta with pictures of his felicitations and life moments dotting the walls.